Bloomin' Onion!: Northwestern Jumps Wisconsin for the Outback Bowl

What a difference a year makes.

Last season, an 8-4 Iowa team jumped a 9-3 NU squad for the Outback Bowl. People often cited NU's poor home attendance and lack of national appeal for the snub.

Then Northwestern packed the Alamodome and gave Missouri the fight of their lives in an OT defeat.

In 2009, an 8-4 NU team managed to jump the 9-3 Wisconsin Badgers.

I have to admit I never thought I'd see this day happen.

The Badgers have been a consistent powerhouse for over a decade. They boasted the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in running back John Clay, and the name "Wisconsin" just seemed to mean more nationally than "Northwestern."

Not anymore.

I give all the credit in the world to NU Athletic Director Dr. Jim Phillips. Bowls are VERY political, and he did an incredible job convincing the Outback Bowl that NU was the right team for them.

I've spoken to Dr. Phillips a few times since the Outback snubbed NU last year. He told me that he actually met with their representatives soon after the bowl season ended last year and discussed with them why they chose Iowa over NU. Then the campaign continued every single month. He would host bowl reps at his house nearly every Friday night, and in the end all his work paid off BIG TIME for the program.

Obviously, all his campaigning would have been for naught if the football team hadn't stepped up and played their best football of the year in November. Pat Fitzgerald's 'Cats were able to win their final three games, including an upset of a top 5 team in Iowa, and a victory over the Badgers as well.

There is nothing like the cachet of playing on New Years Day. This will be only the 4th time in program history for NU to have earned the honor to play on the most magical date on the college football calendar.

It helped NU's cause that Wisconsin has been to Florida for a bowl game more times than their fans can count in recent years, so the Outback Bowl might have been wary about how well the Badgers would travel.

But they only had to look at the 2008 Alamo Bowl to see how well NU's national alumnai base would travel. NU hasn't been to Florida since the 1997 Citrus Bowl, and they've NEVER been to the Outback Bowl.

I said to everyone I knew before the year that NU had to win at least nine games AND get their first bowl victory since 1949 to make this year a success.

They're one win away from doing just that.

If they do, the next step for Dr. Phillips will be to find a way to fill Ryan Field every single game within the next five years, and for Pat Fitzgerald to coach the Wildcats to a Big Ten title within the next two years.

I think both are going to be very difficult, but then again, I NEVER thought I'd see NU jump a team like Wisconsin for a better bowl spot.

In the meantime, January 1, 2010 cannot come soon enough.